Pages

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Lindsay's Sweet World is Four!

*This post may contain affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through or make a purchase.It’s my four year blogging
anniversary!!I can’t believe four years
has already passed, but at the same time, I can’t believe I’ve only been
blogging for four years.It feels like
I’ve been doing it forever and I’m still loving it just as much now as I did
when I first started… probably even more now that I have the proper time to
devote to it.I’m now 917 posts deep and
enjoying every minute!

A few things I’ve learned this past year…

The blogging/influencer
world has become verrrry saturated and it seems these days that everyone is
trying to “make it.”That makes it way
more challenging to get a piece of the pie when trying to monetize.

With that said, I still
believe there’s enough pie to go around.

Facebook blogging groups are
LIFE.I have learned so much from the
ladies in my beloved groups.

Never put all of your eggs
in one basket in terms of growth and monetization.It’s so important to utilize every single
tool at your fingertips – SEO, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,
blogging groups, link-ups, influencer marketing networks, direct pitching,
etc.

But also, Pinterest is
EVERRRRYTHANG.(I already knew this but
just wanted to reiterate it.)

Between the blog and a
billion social media outlets there is literally always something to be
done.I could easily spend 80 hours a
week working.But I don’t.

Joining a reliable, full
service ad management company is literally the best thing that has ever
happened to my monetization.(I’m
looking at YOU, Mediavine!)I make real money
while I sleep, spend time with my family, and go on vacation now.I mean, honestly.It sounds too good to be true but it’s NOT.

I thought I had no clue what
I was doing when it comes to pitching (seriously, I just started doing it
blindly), but apparently I’m better at it than I thought I was going to be since I was able
to land a few collabs this past year from ME reaching out to THEM.Looks like my marketing degree is literally
paying off.;o)

With that said, I still have
a TON to learn and I’m thinking of taking a pitching course, but whyyyy do they
cost so much?!

Linked In is your best
friend for stalking companies and finding direct email addresses for pitching
to brands.You’re welcome.

The volume of spam comments
I’m getting on my blog every day now are annoying AF.I cannot believe how many I have to delete
each day.I guess that’s the downside to
SEO.I think they’re finding me through
the Google.

Growing organically quickly
is just not possible on Instagram now unless you go viral for something, but I honestly don't even focus that much on Instagram growth anymore because I'd rather focus all of my time and energy on the property I own. Instagram could get taken down tomorrow and then what would happen to all of those influencers? It's not likely that would happen, but I still feel better about focusing on the things that I have sole control over. I just don't feel safe putting all of my eggs in someone else's basket, you know? That said, my goal is to get to 10K on IG so I can have the swipe up feature. Once I'm there, I couldn't care less about growing anymore. So help a sister out and go follow me if you don't already! #ShamelessPlea

I still think I’m making the
right move by growing authentically, though, instead of buying followers or
using other questionable tactics that so many are doing on there these
days.

That said, a giveaway every
now and then is a great way to boost your following on IG! You get lots of new followers (who are real
people and not bots) and as long as you produce good content and keep them
engaged from the start, most of them stick around after the giveaway ends!

Most of the time I wish I could just win my own giveaways. They are SO GOOD.

I think that blogging about
setting goals and organizing are some of my favorite posts EVER to write.I could talk to the wall about those two
subjects all day long.See this post here as proof.;o)

It was the first year that I
made decent money consistently every single month.It is so rewarding to know that I’m able to
contribute financially to our family without a corporate job.I do not take this for granted ever.It hasn’t yet replaced my corporate salary,
but it would be amazing if it ever does!

My blog income was higher
this past year than any other year.

I finally started pitching
to companies instead of waiting for them to come to me, and I ended up landing
several collabs!!(I never heard back
from and also heard lots of “no,” too, but it just comes with the territory.)I was able to work with several brands that I
love and I’ve already secured a couple of upcoming sponsorships that I can’t
wait to share with y’all!

I became an Emily Ley affiliate!Her products are gold and I
love everything she stands for so it is an honor to have been accepted into her
program.

I finally landed my first
campaign through one of my influencer marketing networks early last year and I
have done many more since!

I renewed two of my weekly
link-ups with blogging friends for another year.

I had another blog post go
viral that has already surpassed my first viral post which means I now have two
viral posts under my belt!

Lauren Conrad’s clothing brand
used one of my pictures in their Instagram feed!!!! Total fangirl moment! They also put it on Twitter!!

And my biggest
accomplishment this past year was finally consistently hitting enough monthly
pageviews to join the Mediavine family!!!!They are seriously the best thing that happened to me all year and I’m
so, so humbled and grateful that they love and trust my work enough to welcome
me into their family!

Stats

Okay, I put these stats up
every anniversary and it makes me feel a little weird to put this info out for
everyone to see, but I know I always love seeing other people’s stats just to
get an idea of where I could be with my own, so here they are.

A couple of notes before we
begin… I had steady growth in all categories except for Twitter.Probably because I hate it so much and never
use it.Some growth was faster than
others, but at least I grew in most areas.In other news, it’s probably going to be time to start working on growing
that subscriber list soon.Mine is sad.

The sole purpose for starting this baby of mine was
to start keeping a journal again – to have a place where I could jot down my
feelings and document the fleeting moments of motherhood.A place to discuss my fears and my
insecurities.A place to discuss my
shortcomings and a place to celebrate my accomplishments.A place to share the things that I love.I kept a journal from the ages of 6 to 21 –
that’s almost half of my life in old diaries, notebooks, and binders all
carefully lining the bookshelves in my office – and I thought that it was high
time to come back to what I love after a decade-long hiatus.I feel like I have found my passion and I
feel like I am home.I feel like I was
meant to be a blogger.My only regret is
not starting sooner.

To my readers, thank you all
so much for your love and support these last four years.Without you, I would not be able to stay home
doing what I love and still provide for my family.To every single one of you who takes the time
to read my posts, comment, like my Instagram photos, engage with my Instagram
stories, react to my Facebook posts, pin my Pinterest images, click my links,
make purchases through my links, and follow me on social media channels – you
have no idea how thankful I am for you!I truly mean that from the bottom of my heart!Every little click goes a long way and I
promise you it does not go unnoticed!

And now I’d like to hear
from YOU – tell me if there’s anything you’d like to hear from me in the
future!What are your favorite posts?Your least favorite posts?I’ll be reading in the comments!

Happy Blogiversary, girlfriend!!!! I absolutely loooooved everything about this post!!!! Your blog has become part of my routine (in a non creepy way, of course HA!). I love to read what you’re up to and follow you on your organizational journey. You’re an inspiration to people like me who WANT to blog and monetize like you do! Keep on keepin’ on! You’re going to continue to do amazing things and I’ll be in your corner cheering you on!!!!! XOXO

Happy 4 years! Great job. I'd love to hear more about pitching! Also if your blogging facebook groups would take me as a member, I'm interested! The one I was in fizzled out. I want to be you as far as monetizing and blog hits!

I am SO glad we found each other through blogging! Your friendship means the world to me. And I am so happy that you have been experiencing the success you have - you totally deserve it! I just know this next year of blogging will be even better for you and I cannot wait to keep following along!

Happy blogging anniversary, Lindsey! We're so proud to be your partner in ad management and are glad to play a small part in your success. Congratulations on your amazing growth!— Susannah at Mediavine

Happy blogiversary!! Four years is awesome! I have no idea how to see my stats...I guess that proves I only blog for the friends...HA! LOL! Congrats to you!!! Hugs and hopes for another 4!!! Annster's Domain

Haha. You should be able to see them on Blogger (if you use Blogger) or Google Analytics if you have it installed. If you're just blogging for fun then those don't really matter anyway. :o) Thank you so much for your sweet comments!

Lol. It's definitely a lot of work. And you totally could! You are lucky to have a niche in homeschooling. I'm sure you could be very successful at monetizing if you decided that was the path for you! It's a lot harder when you don't have a true niche. Like me... I'm just always posting whatever I want to post when I want to post it. Lol.

Happy Blogiversary! I love seeing your Amazon finds and your monthly cute clothing posts. For a new blogging idea, shop at Goodwill and style an outfit. It would be fun to see a stylish outfit for less than $10 or whatever limit you set.

Thank you for taking the time to comment... I read and respond to each and every one! However, if you are a no-reply blogger (meaning that your email address is not connected to your Blogger account), I will not be able to reply to you directly via email... you will have to check back on the blog post for a response!

Disclosure

Lindsay's Sweet World is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Posts on Lindsay’s Sweet World may contain affiliate links which may provide compensation. The items mentioned are products that I have already purchased for myself or our family or am considering purchasing in the future. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Lindsay's Sweet World!